In the Last Ten Years, at Least Nine U.S. States Have Strengthened Their Laws Against Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia

Margaret Dore published this list of legislative and judicial victories to counter the media narrative that the United States is legalizing assisted suicide.

Alabama Governor, Kay Ivy

In the last ten years, at least nine states have strengthened their laws against assisted suicide/euthanasia. They are (alphabetical): 

1. Alabama: In 2017, Alabama enacted the Assisted Suicide Ban Act; 
2. Arizona: In 2014, Arizona strengthened its law against assisted suicide. 
3. Georgia: In 2012, Georgia strengthened its law against assisted suicide. 
4. Idaho: On April 5, 2011, Idaho strengthened its law against assisted suicide. 
5. Louisiana: In 2012, Louisiana strengthened its assisted suicide/euthanasia ban. 
6. New Mexico: In 2016, the New Mexico Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision recognizing a right to physician aid in dying, meaning physician assisted suicide. Physician-assisted suicide is no longer legal in New Mexico. See Morris v. Brandenburg, 376 P.3d 836 (2016). 
7. Ohio: In 2017, Ohio strengthened its law against assisted suicide. See http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3795 
8. South Dakota: In 2017, the South Dakota Legislature passed Concurrent Resolution 11, opposing physician-assisted suicide. See Bill History. 
9. Utah: In 2018, Utah amended its manslaughter statute to include assisted suicide. For more information, see https://le.utah.gov/~2018/bills/static/HB0086.html and click “status.”

The media promotes the legalization of assisted suicide but it ignores the success in preventing euthanasia and assisted suicide.

Opposition to assisted suicide is strong in the US.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

In 2017, there were 26 states that were challenged by assisted suicide campaigns and all 26 states rejected it. This year 25 states have had assisted suicide bills in their legislatures and as of now, only Hawaii has passed the bill. Yet the theme that the media is portraying is that the assisted suicide lobby is gaining momentum, yet in reality the opposite remains true.

But there is more to the story. Richard Doerflinger, with the Lozier Institute recently examined the assisted suicide data in the US. Doerflinger explains how assisted suicide bills have been overwhelmingly defeated but also 10 states have added or strengthened laws preventing assisted suicide since 1997. Doerflinger commented:

This map shows the 42 states that ban assisted suicide without exception -- ten of which passed new laws against it SINCE Oregon's law took effect in 1997. Three of these states passed new laws in the last year -- Alabama and Utah passed new bans, and Ohio added criminal penalties to its 2003 law allowing for civil penalties. Another 32 states have retained their older statutes or common law bans despite the assisted suicide movement's repeated attempts against those policies. Meanwhile, four states (and DC) have acted to follow Oregon's lead in the last 20 years. So which side is widely portrayed in the press as having big momentum?

Similar data was published by Lozier last year with research by Dr Jacqueline Abernathy.

In the past few months, assisted suicide has been defeated in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, while the South Dakota voter initiative failed to get the needed signatures and more importantly  Utah passed a bill criminalizing assisted suicide.

What has changed is the fact that the assisted suicide lobby is now working to expand assisted suicide laws. The Connecticut assisted suicide bill also legalized euthanasia. In Wisconsin and Massachusetts the assisted suicide bills require physicians to "do or refer", while the Delaware assisted suicide bill specifically approved people with disabilities.

Fabian Stahle, a researcher in Sweden, learned that the definition of "terminal disease" used by the Oregon Health Authority was wider than the regular definition of terminal disease and he confirmed that people who are chronically ill can be approved for assisted suicide in Oregon, even if they do not have a terminal disease when they refuse effective treatment.

The Oregon assisted suicide law, that all other assisted suicide bills are based upon, is designed to deceive.

South Dakota assisted suicide voter initiative fails.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Great News: The assisted suicide lobby failed to collect 13,781, the number of signatures that were needed to get assisted suicide on the ballot in 2018. This is a great victory for the Citizens Against Assisted Suicide in South Dakota and everyone in South Dakota.

The Citizens Against Assisted Suicide stated on their facebook page that:

The difficulty Ms. Mentele had collecting enough signatures both last election cycle and this one is pretty good evidence the vast majority of South Dakotans don’t support suicide... They didn’t lose by not trying, they lost because they were trying to sell what people didn’t want to buy.

South Dakota citizens will continue to be protected from assisted suicide.

• Margaret Dore analysis of South Dakota assisted suicide initiative: Someone else can administer the lethal assisted suicide dose to the patient.

Someone Else can Administer the Lethal Assisted Suicide Dose to the Patient

This article was published by Choice is an Illusion on July 10, 2017

Margaret Dore

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

The South Dakota measure allows someone else, such as a doctor or family member, to administer the lethal dose to a patient. This is true for three reasons:

1. The Measure Merely Says That the Patient “May” Self-Administer the Lethal Dose

The measure says that a patient may self-administer the lethal dose.[1] There is no language that administration “must” be by self-administration.[2]

2. Generally Accepted Medical Practice Allows Someone Else to Administer Medication to a Patient

The measure describes the lethal dose as “medication.”[3] Generally accepted medical practice allows a doctor, or a person acting under the direction of a doctor, to administer medication/drugs to a patient.[4] Oregon doctor, Kenneth Stevens, states:

Common examples of persons acting under the direction of a doctor, include: [N]urses . . . who act under the direction of a doctor to administer drugs to a patient in a hospital setting; . . . and adult children who act under the direction of a doctor to administer drugs to their parents in a home setting. (Emphasis added).[5]

With self-administration not mandatory, generally accepted medical practice allows a doctor, or a person acting under the direction of a doctor, to administer the lethal dose (a “medication”) to the patient.

3. “Self-administer” Is Specially Defined to Allow Someone Else to Administer the Lethal Dose

The measure states:

Terms used in this Act mean:

(11) “Self-administer,” a qualified patient’s act of ingesting medication to end the patient’s life . . . (Emphasis added).[6]

The measure does not define “ingest.”[7] Dictionary definitions include:

[T]o take (food, drugs, etc.) into the body, as by swallowing, inhaling, or absorbing. (Emphasis added).[8]

With this situation, someone else placing a medication patch on the patient’s arm qualifies as self-administration because the patient will be “absorbing” the lethal dose, i.e., “ingesting” it. Gas administration qualifies because the patient will be “inhaling” the lethal dose, i.e., “ingesting” it. Putting the lethal dose into the patient’s mouth qualifies because the patient will be "swallowing" it, i.e., “ingesting” it. With self-administer defined as ingesting, someone else is allowed to administer the lethal dose to the patient.

Footnotes:

[1] The Initiated Measure, § 1(6), states:
“Informed decision,” a decision by a qualified patient, to request and obtain a prescription for medication that the qualified patient may self-administer to end the patient’s life . . . (Emphasis added).
[2] See the measure in its entirety at this link: https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/assisted-suicide-euthanasia-act.pdf
[3] See § 1(6), which states:
“Informed decision,” a decision by a qualified patient, to request and obtain a prescription for medication that the qualified patient may self-administer to end the patient’s life . . . (Emphasis added).
[4] Declaration of Kenneth Stevens, MD, 01/06/16, ¶10,
[5] Id.
[6] Initiated measure, § 1(11).
[7] See the initiated measure in its entirety.
[8] Your Dictionary.com (defining " ingest").